Robert Pattinson on GMA: "I've Never Been Interested in Trying to Sell My Personal Life"

Robert Pattinson still looked good — hair gelled up, casual in dark clothes — but he definitely had a few awkward moments at the start of his talk Wednesday on Good Morning America. It wasn't as smooth a ride as he had eating ice cream with Jon Stewart.

Rob just wanted to promote his new movie, Cosmopolis, but that's not how it works. George Stephanopoulos asked him about "the elephant in the room" — without ever saying the name Kristen Stewart — and his simple question about how Rob was doing, and what he wanted his fans to know about his personal life, sent the actor into a sputtering tailspin. He said something about the fans (screaming outside) being excited for other reasons and he referenced the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch placed on the table between them on the GMA set, because it's Rob's favorite cereal. (Nice plug for them, but he didn't eat it like he did the Ben & Jerry's with Jon.)

"I'd like my fans to know Cinnamon Toast Crunch only has 30 calories a bowl, for instance," Rob joked before adding, "Pretty much everything that comes out of my mouth is irrelevant."

George said it's clear he doesn't want to talk too much about it, so is that the way he gets through all the craziness?

"It's a different thing," Rob answered. "You get into it to do movies. I mean, I've never been interested in trying to sell my personal life and that's really the only reason people bring it up. And so that's the reason why you go on TV — to promote movies. That's the only way to do it."

Is there any way to get used to all this, George asked?

"No, I don't think so," Rob said. "I think if you start getting used to it, it means you're going crazy. But it's nice. It's like being on the craziest theme park ride you've been on. It's totally exciting but eventually at some point you've got to have, like, a break."

George quoted Rob from a recent interview where he said bankers and billionaires (like his Cosmopolis character) should be followed by paparazzi. What did he mean by that?

"The weird thing is I can't tell what's interesting about actors either," Rob said. "People with much, much more power than any celebrity would have — they don't find their personal lives interesting. I think if you put the lives of people who control billions of dollars on the front pages of every single paper I think the world would be a better place. It's the spin culture. If you took away publicists and things and people spoke for themselves then they have to be responsible for their words."

Rob still doesn't have a publicist at this point, but he does have a manager who doesn't like to be confused with his publicist. But he makes a good point — Wall Street honchos and other money-makers are getting more of a free ride, away from the glare of the tabloids. What really needs to happen is the billionaires and bankers out there need to be much, much more attractive so people actually want to read about their personal lives. And maybe we should cast them all in the next version of Twilight — maybe the Fifty Shades of Grey film — so they get a taste of the spotlight, just like Rob and Kristen.